Day 5 Villa Romana Del Casale & Gigliotta

The Villa Romana Del Casale is a United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization, UNESCO, World Heritage Site. This ancient Italian villa, originally built in the 4th Century A.D., was devastated and covered by a landslide in the 12th Century. Excavations began in the late 19th Century and found most of the villa intact. This was most likely the home of an upper class Roman family with a estate dedicated to farming.

The images seen on the floor are all mosaic design. This villa is purported to have the most extensive, artistic and intricate mosaics perhaps in the world. When the villa was completely intact, mosaics covered every inch of the floors and walls.

Looking closely, beyond the mosaic floor, one can see the pillar and the steps which were made of marble. The combination of the mosaics with the rich colors of the marble must have been stunning in its day.

This type of floor pattern was common throughout the open hallways surrounding the fountain and courtyard. Every beast and bird imaginable were demonstrated in the mosaic design. Each individual mosaic, through the use of the colors, animals and design, were symbols of stories and history, valuable to the owner.

The villa featured many mosaic stories throughout. Unfortunately, they were difficult to photograph with ongoing restoration blocking adequate photographic opportunities.

To see other examples of the tiles, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Romana_del_Casale. Here you will find , in addition to many others, Bikini Girls, mosaics of young ladies participating in sporting events such as swimming and discus throwing, which I would have thought quite risqué for the time, and Skier Mosaic featuring a Roman on skis! Who would have thought they used skis back in the day!

Also interesting is the Hunter and a Swastika. I didn't know before this tour that the Swastika was a commonly used symbol with the literal Sanskrit meaning of "well-being" and was first used in the Bronze Age, 3300-1300 BCE within the Indus Valley. The Indus Valley encompassed today's area of Afghanistan, Pakistan and NW India. Not until Nazi Germany adopted the Swastika did the symbol represent fear and militaristic rule.

Not too shabby, eh?? Gigliotta is an agriturismo and a commercial farm which grows, among other things, Prickly Pears, a common fruit enjoyed by Sicilians. Yep, that's right....they eat the cactus, without the thorns of course!